"I am a turner. My workshop started to operate about a year and a half ago, and I already have many orders and think about hiring an assistant," says Miraziz, proudly sharing his early successes and showing his small, but modernly equipped workshop. 

The young entrepreneur's sincere joy could be well understood by his fellow villagers. Jany-Nookat is one of the municipalities in southern Kyrgyzstan that is experiencing difficulties with economic development. It is a great fortune to find any job here, and not everyone will dare to start their own business.

Miraziz Yuldashev's workshop accepts orders of any complexity, thankfully, he has all the necessary tools. "I have customers even from Osh city, which is an hour's drive away. So, there is enough work", – says the young man.

The decision to open a turning shop was not quick. Miraziz studied turning lathe work at the local vocational school, where he received all the necessary theoretical background and practical experience. In 2018, UNDP provided modern equipment and helped rural lyceum to open a new speciality as part of the TFD project "Integrated Development of Osh oblast" funded by the Russian Federation.

"This is a German Optiturn machine, there is no such machine in the whole district. It costs three million soms, - says master Nurmakhammad Juraev -In addition to training, the lyceum conducts full-fledged commercial activities, which allow students to practice and even earn money”.

Jany-Nookat is a quite large village with a population of almost 30 thousand people. It is located ten minutes away from the district centre, the town of Nookat. The local population is mainly employed in agriculture. Unemployment is one of the main socio-economic problems of the village. This forces young people to seek work in Russia. According to the students of the vocational school, are in high demand in that country.

"My acquaintances in Russia call me all the time, they say the salary there is about 70-80 thousand soms. Some of them graduated from this lyceum," – says one of the students, Sayibzhan Abdulazizogly. – I was planning to leave this summer, but the tickets were particularly expensive at this time. I've got all the knowledge I need here. And I can say that I have become a full-fledged turner".

Kadir Mirzakalandarov, a senior instructor at the vocational school, also says that the main goal of his students studying for a turner is to find work in Russia. The pay there is much higher and young people always find work if they are good specialists. In the three years since the lyceum was provided with the equipment and opened a new professional branch, the vacation school has trained more than 50 trained masters, most of whom are now working in Russia. The case of Mirasiz, who decided to stay in his native village and open his workshop, is a rare exception. Within the same project/ Miraziz applied to UNDP with his small business project and was provided with new equipment and all the necessary tools.

"Of course, we had some other requests that we could address to UNDP, but we have prioritized opening the turning workshop, as they are in-demand and, we hope, won’t be left unemployed. They are in demand on the local market too, but not in large numbers. That is why many graduates go to Russia. Now we are proud that our vocational school has all the conditions for a full-fledged education, despite it is located in a rural area. Our students leave as ready-to-work specialists," – says the school’s instructor Mr Mirzakalandarov.

Stable jobs and higher salaries do not attract only young men. According to Mamasaly Karimov, deputy director of this vocational school, older men and even girls are interested in acquiring this speciality. The training is completely free and on the state budget.

"We had also applied for establishing a digital library under the same UNDP project and now can provide students with the required theoretical base as well," says Mr Karimov showing the premises of the digital library that was set up next to the workshop. – There are five computers connected to the databases of Manas university in Bishkek, Osh state University and few other universities in the country. An interactive whiteboard, and a big screen here. We specifically made this request because there is a shortage of literature. Besides, information quickly becomes outdated due to often re-editing the textbooks. Having a digital library allows us to download new materials, put them on a board, study with students and go to the turning shop to practice. Before that, our vocational school had no library at all due to the lack of funds."

The coronavirus pandemic made adjustments to the teaching schedule. Last year, the students had to study online for almost six months, but that didn't stop motivated students from completing the course and getting their diplomas. This year, the new academic year begins on September 15th, and today we have 20 new applied students among the local youth, which means that in a year we will have a couple of dozen more qualified lyceum graduates.  

The initiative to create a turners’ workshop and the digital library was carried out within the framework of the UNDP project "Integrated Development of Osh Province" in cooperation with national partners and with the financial support of the Russian Federation.